Koreans Kim Woojin, Kang Chae Young take top seeds at 2019 Asian Championships

Korean archers Kim Woojin and Kang Chae Young finished first over the recurve ranking rounds as Malaysia’s Juwaidi Mazuki and Adel Zhexenbinova of Kazakhstan led the compounds at the 2019 Asian Archery Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

The four recurve women from Korea all scored 678 or 677 points. Kang’s 678, tied with Choi Misun and An San, ranked top on 10-count.

“It was a bit of a shame that I made a mistake in the first half because before that I had shot well,” said Chae Young. She shot a two in the sixth end.

“Over time, I got my points and I got better and better and I managed a good result.”

Traditionally, archery’s leading nation – Korea – has sent its second team to the continental championships, which takes place in the same year as the worlds. This year is different, though.

Archers on the 2019 Korean team are having to go through the full selection process for the squad in 2020. (They’ve previously received a bye through to the later stages.) The athletes currently leading that process are in Bangkok.

Kim Woojin’s score of 685 was seven points clear at the top of recurve men’s qualifying.

Juwaidi Mazuki shot a new Malaysian national record with 707 and his number one seed in the compound men’s event. His second-ranked teammate Zulfadhli Ruslan had 706, also beating the old record of 705.

The top score in the compound women’s field, shot by Adel Zhexenbinova, was 700.

These Asian Archery Championships also act as a continental qualification tournament for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Three recurve men’s and three recurve women’s spots are available.

The ranking round results from the championships are used to seed the qualification tournament.

Tajikistan’s Robert Nam and Deepika Kumari – shooting under the World Archery flag as the Indian federation is suspended – will enter that event as the number one seeds.

Korea, Chinese Taipei and China have already qualified full, six-athlete quotas for the Games. Nine Asian nations had secured 30 Olympic spots ahead of this tournament.

Finals at the 2019 Asian Archery Championships are scheduled for Wednesday 27 November. The Olympic qualification tournament takes place on Thursday.

The 2019 Asian Archery Championships take place on 22-28 November in Bangkok, Thailand.